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Continued Cartography

It’s been a while since my last Destiny update, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been lazy! (Okay, maybe a little lazy. But still vigilant!) News has been slow since the release of the “Brave New World” vidoc, yet I’ve been collecting small tidbits during the lull and finally have enough accumulated to make a semi-respectable post. Emphasis on “semi”.

I hope you enjoy these morsels of Tiger info; let me know what you think in the comments!
– Hitmonchan107 over at HBO made an interesting follow-up discovery on August 9th: The trademarks for “Destiny” and “Be Brave” have had their ownership transferred from the dummy corporation Podophobia Entertainment to Bungie. No additional information has been found from these new trademark records.

“As a World Designer at Bungie you will work with Designers, Producers, Artists, and Engineers to design our game worlds, develop engaging multiplayer experiences, and create dynamic AI encounters that will be talked about for years to come. You will evaluate gameplay pacing, flow, difficulty curves, and balance to polish all game activities for an optimum player experience. You will partner with user testing to evaluate ideas and implementations. You will ultimately be responsible for setup and fine tuning of gameplay experiences, including everything from story moments to player respawn points, and everything in between.”

– I was lucky enough to attend the HaloFest VIP Party at PAX Prime on August 26th, wherein I spotted someone (presumably a Bungie employee) wearing the elusive “Dead Orbit” shirt. Clad in my own Bungie Aerospace attire, I asked the gentleman if I could take a picture of the shirt and he kindly agreed. Out of politeness I did not press him for any information on it and merely thanked him for the photo.

Bungie.net user alienmassacare suggested that the symbol in the middle is actually a sans-serif “Zayin” (ז), the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The word zayin means “sword” in Hebrew while the letter zayin sometimes represents the number seven – a value significant to any Bungie fan.

Keep in mind that the top edge of the map might not be in the right place, but as of now this is my best guess for the layout using the available images. I think that the “two random dots” on the card are actually less significant than they seem: previous versions of the “Destiny Map” have shown similar dots, but in shifted positions. This leads me to believe that those pictures are composed of two separate sources: a hand-drawn terrain map and a starfield/solar-system image. My guess is supported by the slight shift of the background stars between versions, the large planet overlay, and the very faint set of orbit lines in the “One of Seven” header.

That said, I also believe that the “nebula” images in the background of the current Bungie.net layout are actually mountains.

Some more interesting features to note:

– You can easily spot a few roads within what appears to be a port town. While the name abruptly cuts off (because it was at the edge of the thank-you card), you can clearly see it begins with “PUERTO DRIN-“. I tried to find a Spanish word beginning with DRIN (since “puerto” means “port”), but the only thing I found was “drino”, meaning “a kind of venemous serpent.” The word on the map could very well be nothing more than the person the port is named after. (NeoGAF user Fyrewulff mentioned the possibility of a reference to the Drinol, a Covenant enemy cut from Halo 2.)

– A few more words and word parts can be seen, most notably “fresh water” and “Most”.

– HBO user DEEP NNN suggested that the numbers in the water are most likely depth soundings, as seen on many nautical charts. There also seem to be markings along the shore indicating low water lines and rocky ledges. I have to agree with this explanation of the numbers, it makes perfect sense and gives the map an authentic feel.

– Along the edge of the smaller river you can see small drawings that resemble palm trees.

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8 thoughts on “Continued Cartography”

Thanks for this, I’m very interested in this mystery that Bungie has provided us, and I’m really glad someone has the time and perseverance to stay vigilant and pull all the clues together for the rest of us. Please keep up the great work!

Watch This new career opportuninities at Bugie, with some hints : http://www.bungie.net/Inside/aboutus.aspx#31800
1/ A love of combat on the high seas.-> May explain cartography (Puerto Drin…)
2/Demonstrate technical excellence and lead by example while working with our team to code the fastest, cleanest graphics engine ever seen on this or any other planet. -> Grognok Engine or the other ?
After all, Bungie new i.p can take place in Ocean who know…

Yeah you may be right about that.
I was thinking about something too, this huge map is might be a constelaltion or nebulosa. But imagine if it’s some kind of GTA in Space! i don’t know why but i feel this sense of big scale, you have some territory to defend against factions…

Some rumors are saying there will be something official this December 7th, let’s see if something happen.

“Bungie.net user alienmassacare suggested that the symbol in the middle is actually a sans-serif ”Zayin” (ז), the seventh letter of the Hebrew alphabet. The word zayin means “sword” in Hebrew while the letter zayin sometimes represents the number seven – a value significant to any Bungie fan.”

Wow. Im beginning to doubt the veracity of the seven seraphs logo… or maybe they are linked? like an alliance? check seraphs out in wikipedia.Got a lot to do with what alienmassacre said…